Kalvaarhalli betta
Kalvaarhalli Betta(betta = hill), also known as Skandagiri, is about 70kms from Bangalore and very close to the famed Nandi hills. It's a popular night-trek destination with the locals, and so is watching the sunrise and clouds from the hill-top. There's an abandoned temple at the hilltop.
The elaborately carved crest of the Nandigram Temple, at Nandigram on the way to Skandagiri:
rains at a distance during the uphill climb... the setting sun's hidden by the downpour:
looking into a blanket of fog... and waiting for the sun to rise:
the sun god finally wakes up like a reluctant child... but there was none of the famed cloud formation. it was just like any other hilly morning and once the mist cleared, it got pretty hot pretty quick:
p.s: all the pictures above were taken by GL's friends, and have been posted here with their collective permission.
trip sheet: leave Bangalore very early in the morning... stop for breakfast...catch up with others as they join in.. visit Nandi hills... the winding uphill is good fun.. and very steep at places... though several auto-rickshaws make it without much fuss. pass through vineyards... stop at Nandigram to visit the beautiful temple... tea break... arrive at the papagni math(pronounced "mutt") late noon... park bikes... there's a temple too... drinking water is available outside the math and the temple... walk up for what seems like hours :(... dead tiring, esp for GL... the hilltop resembles a park.. with people littered everywhere... too tired to help collect wood... eat... talk... prepare to zonk off... and then the pelting starts.. ambushed by huge drops of rain ... rush to the temple... surprisingly, there's no floor to the temple.. it's just soil/earth there... rain gains momentum and falls in sleets outside... and the winds howl.. at 4am, the wind is still bad... very chill... run out of water... wait for daybreak.. hope to see those clouds we saw in the pictures on the internet. no such thing... just the normal mist and fog and wind and stuff... begins to get hot after daybreak... down in a jiffy.. breakfast outside papagni math - sandwiches and banana.. quick trip to the temple.. and homeward bound.
The elaborately carved crest of the Nandigram Temple, at Nandigram on the way to Skandagiri:
rains at a distance during the uphill climb... the setting sun's hidden by the downpour:
looking into a blanket of fog... and waiting for the sun to rise:
the sun god finally wakes up like a reluctant child... but there was none of the famed cloud formation. it was just like any other hilly morning and once the mist cleared, it got pretty hot pretty quick:
p.s: all the pictures above were taken by GL's friends, and have been posted here with their collective permission.
trip sheet: leave Bangalore very early in the morning... stop for breakfast...catch up with others as they join in.. visit Nandi hills... the winding uphill is good fun.. and very steep at places... though several auto-rickshaws make it without much fuss. pass through vineyards... stop at Nandigram to visit the beautiful temple... tea break... arrive at the papagni math(pronounced "mutt") late noon... park bikes... there's a temple too... drinking water is available outside the math and the temple... walk up for what seems like hours :(... dead tiring, esp for GL... the hilltop resembles a park.. with people littered everywhere... too tired to help collect wood... eat... talk... prepare to zonk off... and then the pelting starts.. ambushed by huge drops of rain ... rush to the temple... surprisingly, there's no floor to the temple.. it's just soil/earth there... rain gains momentum and falls in sleets outside... and the winds howl.. at 4am, the wind is still bad... very chill... run out of water... wait for daybreak.. hope to see those clouds we saw in the pictures on the internet. no such thing... just the normal mist and fog and wind and stuff... begins to get hot after daybreak... down in a jiffy.. breakfast outside papagni math - sandwiches and banana.. quick trip to the temple.. and homeward bound.
2 comments:
Nice :)
Cool Pics GL ;-)
Post a Comment